Cook County sheriff accuses lawyers for jail inmates of shifting their demands over COVID-19 precautions

The Cook County Jail in Chicago on April 30, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)

Sheriff Tom Dart accused lawyers for Cook County Jail detainees in a court filing Monday of playing a game of “constitutional whack-a-mole” over the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, saying he’s appealing a federal judge’s order dictating social distancing and other protocols at the sprawling Southwest Side facility.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly issued a preliminary injunction mandating specific measures to battle the spread of coronavirus at the jail, including additional testing, social distancing and banning double-inmate cells and group housing in most cases. The judge denied other relief sought by the plaintiffs, including ordering the release of medically vulnerable detainees because of the pandemic.

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The ruling came as part of an ongoing lawsuit filed by the Loevy and Loevy law firm and the MacArthur Justice Center at Northwestern University alleging Dart has failed to stop a “rapidly unfolding public health disaster” at the jail, which has been identified as one of the nation’s leading hot spots for coronavirus infections.

In a 29-page brief filed late Monday, lawyers for the sheriff fired back at continued efforts by plaintiffs’ attorneys to seek the release of detainees, accusing them of using the pandemic to push a “decarceration” agenda that is disrupting efforts to keep inmates and staff safe.

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The filing also alleged that the plaintiffs have shifted their demands so many times, “it is what the sheriff can only characterize as constitutional whack-a-mole.”

“It has been clear throughout this litigation that plaintiffs’ counsel lack appreciation for the complexities of jail operations in ordinary times, to say nothing of these times of uncertainty,” the sheriff’s filing stated. “They have persisted in this litigation with no understanding of the tremendous burden it places on the sheriff’s office staff and for minimal gain, as nearly all of the relief they’ve pursued as long been in place at the jail.”

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In appealing Kennelly’s injunction order, the sheriff’s office pointed to recent ruling in Alabama that overturned a similar injunction, saying it placed the district judge in the role of “super-warden.”

“The jail simply cannot operate under threat of contempt and disruption when so many resources have been invested to protect detainees — as much as is structurally and operationally possible, and well beyond what is objectively reasonable,” the sheriff’s filing stated.

Kennelly said in his order two weeks ago that the injunction will likely remain in place until coronavirus is no longer a threat to spread among the jail population.

Dart filed a notice of appeal with the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Tuesday, records show.

Meanwhile, efforts to contain the virus continue at the jail, which currently houses 4,032 inmates. As of Monday, seven detainees have died after contracting COVID-19 at the jail, according to the sheriff’s office. Another 190 inmates currently have the virus, seven of whom are hospitalized. Hundreds of others tested positive and have since recovered.